1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to non-stick type frying cookware, such as frying pans having a coating to prevent food from sticking to the pan, and particularly to liner elements adapted for insertion between such pans when not in use to prevent the non-stick coating thereon from becoming scratched.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
A diligent search through retail outlets that sell cookware treated to produce a cooking surface on the pan to which food will not stick has failed to reveal the existence of a liner for such pans that permits nesting of several such pans yet prevents contact of the treated cooking surface of one pan by the metallic bottom of the pan above. Accordingly, it is one of the important objects of the present invention to provide a liner that may be accommodated between nested non-stick cookware so as to prevent the nested pans from coming into direct contact with each other.
Fry pans having internal cooking surfaces treated to be non-sticking in relation to food cooked therein are usually formed from an appropriate metal, such as aluminum, and are frequently formed in sizes such that one pan will nest within the next lower pan. Unless the pans are protected from each other, the exterior metallic bottom of each nested pan rests on the interior treated surface of the pan below. Such contact causes abrasions to be formed in the treated non-stick surface which, over time, become quite extensive and thus provide areas on the pans to which the food will stick, thus defeating the purpose of treating the pan to provide the non-stick surface. Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to provide a set of scratch prevention liners that cooperate with the associated pans to provide a "nest" within each pan which supports the pan above it in complete isolation from the pan within which the "nest" liner is enclosed.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a set of scratch prevention liners of varying size to accommodate the different sizes of cookware, particularly fry pans.
When a multiplicity of fry pans of the type treated to provide a non-stick coating on the interior cooking surface are nested together without the presence of a liner, the handle of each pan above the bottom pan rests on the rim of the pan below. This results in the pans lying in non-parallel planes, with the handles extending from the pans in non-parallel planes. It is therefore another object of the invention to provide a set of scratch prevention liners that cooperate with the fry pans to isolate one pan from the adjacent pans and to support each pan in a plane that is horizontal to the plane in which each of the other pans is supported.
From a marketing point of view, it is an advantage for manufacturers to pack multiple fry pans in a single package, so that a customer may then buy a "set" of such pans, each of a different size and having utility for a different purpose. One problem that arises from this concept is that the pans are apt to be abraded during transit because the bottoms of some of the pans rest on the interior treated cook surface of the pans below. Also, because of the uneven alignment of the pans, due to the fact that the handles of upper pans rest on the rims of the pans below, it is difficult to package multiple pans in one package. It is therefore another object of the invention to provide a "set" of fry pan liners that retains a multiplicity or "set" of superposed fry pans in parallel planes, isolated against contiguity, yet providing a "nest" within which each superposed pan is supported on the pan below.
When a multitude of non-stick type fry pans are stacked one above the other, it is an advantage that the handles of all the pans project in the same direction, all lying in a common vertical plane that includes the geometric center of the fry pan cooking surface. Accordingly, yet another object of the invention is the provision of a "set" of scratch prevention pan liners that function to retain the handles of stacked fry pans oriented in a vertical plane common to all of the handles.
Since the primary purpose of the invention is the prevention of scratches being formed in the non-stick surface of a fry pan, a still further object of the invention is the provision of a liner that is non-abrasive to the non-stick cooking surface of the pan within which it is cradled.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be apparent from the following description and the drawings. It is to be understood however that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.